Totally charming, lovely, life-affirming, learning that it was some sort of received wisdom that it sucked really surprised me when I picked up on that fact. I like the Beatles I guess an average amount for this board, they are not my favorite band or near it and the culture has more or less gotten them in my head so much I actually put on a Beatles record only a handful of times a year.

So I say this not from blind adoration of the Beatles, but just from finding it a totally peppy zesty good-feeling bit of pleasure. A good/very good song, not a classic, but a real charmer that deserves to live!

"Dislike" is too mild a description... "loathe" is in the ballpark but not quite the right row, never mind seat... it's everything I hate about Macca (I am a fan of his btw)... trite lyric, silly melody... have never liked it since first hearing it as a kid in the 70s... a betrayal of his best abilities... he farts these kinda things out with nary a thought... give me a trifle like "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" instead... at least it rocks!

The hate for "Maxwell's" reminds me of a common principle in declaring worst song of any variety--people find "distinctively peculiar in a way that could maybe be annoying" as qualifying for "worst" when to me the worst song is like fourth song on side two of some record that no matter how many times you hear it you'll never remember anything about it....I give points for "interestingly distinctive" and Maxwell's has that in spades, as pop songs go.

I did already know the song for years before I learned it was actually by The Beatles. Until then I was under the impression that it was an English children's song.

Love it, BTW.

Click to expand...

The Beatles' sort of had a vague tradition of "children's songs the whole family can enjoy", having roots going back to early in their career. It arguably starts with their cover of Larry Williams' "Bad Boy" :
" .. he put some tacks on teachers chair,
puts chewing gum in little girl's hair,
man, junior, behave yourself .."

.. okay, a rock n roll standard and not a Lennon-McCartney composition, but here begins with the lyrics.

They start to get in the habit of "child-like" content :

"Listen, do to want to know a secret, do you promise not to tell"

.. then, the appearance of "Yellow Submarine", "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill", "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", All Together Now" , "Octopus's Garden",

plus further off-cuff lyrical references like :

"Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play?",

....

" ..the King of Marigold was in the kitchen
cooking breakfast for the Queen,
the Queen was in the parlor
playing piano for the children of the King...
.. The King was in the garden
picking flowers for a friend who came to play,
the Queen was in the playroom
painting pictures for the children's holiday...";

...

"..1,2,3,4,5,6,7, all good children go to heaven .."

...

They all did it, John, Paul, Ringo (with Octopus), even George got in on the action with "Piggies" .. while not a children's song by any means, the lyrics are adorned in nursery-rhyme imagery.

All part of the formula that keeps their legacy enduring after over half a century !

I like it. Gotta admit, after I clicked vote I was very surprised to see the landslide in favor of this song so far. If you believe the critics it's an absolute piece of trash. So much for the critics.

About Granny music, let's just say the Mount Rushmore of Granny music is Paul McCartney, Harry Nilsson, Freddie Mercury, and Ray Davies. So I'm not ashamed to admit that I dig it as part of a well rounded album.